Grievance Procedure

Those who believe they have been a witness to attorney misconduct —
clients, members of the public, members of the legal community, and
judges — have the right to file a grievance against a Texas attorney.
The grievance form is available on the State Bar website (in Spanish
and English), in each of CDC’s regional offices, through the
State Bar’s Client Attorney Assistance Program (CAAP), and at
courthouses, law libraries, legal aid organizations and local bar
associations across the State.

Classification

The filing of a written grievance with any one of the Chief
Disciplinary Counsel’s regional offices initiates the
disciplinary process. Lawyers are subject to discipline only if they
have violated the ethics rules (Texas
Disciplinary Rules of Professional Conduct). Upon receipt of the
grievance, the CDC determines whether the grievance, on its face,
alleges professional misconduct. This determination is referred to as
classification of the grievance and is made within 30 days of the
filing of the grievance.

If the grievance does not allege professional misconduct, it is
classified as an Inquiry and dismissed. If the grievance alleges
professional misconduct, it is classified as a Complaint and sent to
the respondent lawyer for a response.

Why Are Grievances Dismissed?

Grievances are dismissed for various reasons, including the
following:

The grievance concerns the outcome of a case but does not
specify a violation of an ethics rule.

The grievance does not involve a lawyer’s conduct in his
or her professional capacity.

The grievance is filed too late.

The grievance is duplicative or identical to a previous
filing.

The grievance concerns a lawyer who has been disbarred, has
resigned, or is deceased.

The grievance concerns a person who is not licensed as an
attorney (handled by the Unauthorized Practice of Law Committee).

The grievance is filed against a sitting judge (handled by the
State Commission on Judicial Conduct).

The person who filed the grievance has the right to appeal the
CDC’s classification decision to dismiss the grievance as an
Inquiry to the Board of Disciplinary Appeals (BODA). BODA is an
independent 12-attorney tribunal, appointed by the Supreme Court of
Texas. When BODA reverses a classification decision, the grievance is
sent back to the CDC and is processed as a Complaint.

Just Cause Determination

Once the grievance is classified as a Complaint, it is sent to the
respondent lawyer who has 30 days from receipt to respond. Within 60
days of the response deadline, the CDC, through its investigation, must
determine whether there is Just Cause to believe that professional
misconduct occurred. This investigation may include the following:

State Bar Membership Department records including records of
current or past administrative suspensions

Client file

Witness interviews and obtaining sworn statements

If the Chief Disciplinary Counsel determines that there is no Just
Cause to proceed on the Complaint, the case is presented to a Summary
Disposition Panel, which is a panel of local grievance committee
members composed of two-thirds lawyers and one-third public members.
The Summary Disposition Panel is an independent decision maker and has
the discretion to either accept or reject the CDC’s
determination.

All information and results of the CDC’s investigation is
presented to the panel at a docket hearing without the presence of
either the complainant or respondent. If the panel accepts the
CDC’s determination, the Complaint will be dismissed. If the
panel rejects the CDC’s determination, the panel votes to proceed
on the Complaint.

Trial of the Complaint

If the CDC finds Just Cause or the Summary Disposition Panel votes
to proceed on the Complaint, the respondent lawyer is given written
notice of the allegations and rule violations. The respondent has 20
days to notify the CDC whether he or she chooses to have the case heard
before an evidentiary panel of the grievance committee or by a district
court, with or without a jury. This choice is referred to as the
respondent’s election. A respondent who fails to elect will have
the case tried before an evidentiary panel of the grievance
committee.

Evidentiary panel hearings are confidential and allow for a private
reprimand, the least sanction available, to be imposed. District court
proceedings are public and the least sanction available is a public
reprimand. In both types of proceedings, the parties are the Commission
for Lawyer Discipline represented by the Chief Disciplinary Counsel,
and the respondent lawyer. It is the Commission’s burden to prove
the allegations of professional misconduct by a preponderance of the
evidence.

If no professional misconduct is found, the case is dismissed. If
professional misconduct is found, a separate hearing may be held to
determine the appropriate discipline. In evidentiary panel proceedings,
the panel may also find that the respondent suffers from a disability
and forwards its finding to the Board of Disciplinary Appeals.